With political and legislative talk over Bill C-7 renewed following momentum to expand MAiD access across the country, Ontario Catholic health-care organizations are standing firm to their spiritual tradition. 

As the Ontario government rolls out plans for more surgeries outside of hospitals in “independent clinics,” Catholic health-care providers are eyeing the opportunity to expand services and revenue streams, yet remain cautious of warnings that private, for-profit care is a moral minefield persist.

After at least five years of signing petitions and writing about his opposition to doctor-assisted suicide, Port Coquitlam, B.C., family physician Dr. Kevin Sclater finally decided to act.

In his recent homily at the National Eucharistic Congress in Matera, Pope Francis described the dangers of this world. “The abuses perpetrated by the powerful against the weak, indifference to the cry of the poor, the abyss we dig every day, generating marginalization… all these things cannot leave us indifferent,” Francis said. 

Susan Martinuk wonders when Canadians are finally going to wake up to the fact that this country’s ballyhooed universal-access, single-payer health-care system is a failure whose rationing of service and interminable wait times lead directly to pain, suffering and medically-preventable deaths.

Add one more item to the list of COVID-19’s destructive impacts: the concept of private health care may be becoming more palatable to a majority of Canadians, a claim that a national survey made early last month.

Adding 180 new long-term care beds and a whole new building to Unity Health’s Providence Healthcare site is just the beginning of the Catholic hospital’s plans for seniors in Toronto’s east end.

Pallium Canada has teamed up with the Canadian Medical Association to help health care workers gain accelerated and enhanced palliative care skills.

JERUSALEM -- When the Israeli Ministry of Health asked St. Joseph's Hospital to set up a coronavirus unit, the hospital had it completed within a week.

BEIRUT -- In a clinic adjoining a Catholic church, Samira Roncaglia cheerfully welcomed the young couple with their newborn, guiding them to the pediatrician.

SYDNEY -- The Australian government said it will make changes to religious freedom legislation concerning religious hospitals and aged-care facilities, after the Catholic Church pushed for changes to a recently released draft legislation package.

WINDSOR, ONT. – Windsor Regional Hospital could be the first hospital in Ontario, perhaps Canada, to successfully apply for a 150-metre restriction on anti-abortion protests or vigils.

VATICAN – Catholic parents should vaccinate their children for the good of their children and the community, and they can do so with a "clear conscience" that "the use of such vaccines does not signify some sort of cooperation in voluntary abortion," said the Pontifical Academy for Life.

OTTAWA – When Sr. Laura Girotto first set foot in Adwa, Ethiopia, in late 1993, it was hard to envision the miracle about to  unfold.

Despite warnings that an overhaul of health care in Ontario could sideline Catholic values and governance, organizations that represent Catholic hospitals, nursing homes, hospices and health services are optimistic they can be players in a more centralized health system.